The idea that landed Dave Hill a writing position on Game of Thrones Season 5

Variety published a feature on showrunners today which included a new quote from our very own Game of Thrones showrunners, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.

We learned earlier this year that a new writer was being welcomed into the mix for Season 5, former production assistant Dave Hill. Now we know the one great idea that caught the attention of Benioff and Weiss to help land Hill the dream job, as Variety reveals one of their favorite writers’ room moments:

“We had an assistant named Dave Hill,” say Benioff and Weiss. “One day last summer he walked into our office and said, ‘You know that kid whose family gets massacred by the wildlings? The one who runs to Castle Black to let them know the wildlings are nearby?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Well,’ said Dave, ‘doesn’t it make sense that he’d stay at Castle Black and become a Night’s Watch recruit? Where else is he going to go?’

‘You’re right,’ we said. ‘That does make sense.’

‘And what if during the battle for Castle Black, he’s the one who ends up killing Ygritte?’

This year, Dave Hill is a writer on the show.”

Great to know that Hill had a hand in one of the more memorable moments of Season 4, we can’t wait to see what he brings to Season 5.

Visit Variety for more great words from some of today’s most talented showrunners.

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Not a bad idea…just telegraphed from a mile away…so D and D decided to have that kid go to castle black with nothing else planned for him? so why write him going to CB at all? I’d have had Styr kill him during the raid and left it at that…I usually don’t mind changes but that was unneccesary and it’s a little disturbing they had no plan for that kid until Hill bailed them out with the obvious choice…maybe just maybe Jon’s warning was enough

I didn’t like it. I wouldn’t say it’s bad writing or anything like that, but I always liked the idea of Jon not knowing who killed Ygritte. This and the other Night Watchs show addition (the Crasters Keep storyline) just feel a bit to cliche and predictable to me.
And let’s be fair, you don’t have to be a genius to come up with this.

Well we have to see someone kill Ygritte. Not much of a tv dynamic to have her discovered dead on the field. The boy being responsible for her death in such an ironic manner made sense to me. How better could it have been done?

For me, the kid staying at Castle Black and joining the Night’s Watch was the show world-building. It was a small thing. Most people who watch the should wouldn’t think twice about it, but it was a nice way to show that the Watch isn’t completely full of criminals and noble lords. Sometimes folks join the Watch because they don’t have a place to go. The Watch takes all kinds, especially as deteriorated as they are.

Actually what I think happened is Dave had the idea, based on an early script BEFORE they started shooting, and so based on his idea, they handled the direction of that scene a little differently to fit with the new larger theme.

It was a good idea, but as someone already said most GoT readers could tell as soon as they showed that scene and the kid was looking at Ygritte as the audience saw from his POV. Sure, as a show watcher it wasn’t predictable and that’s half the audience. Still, it’s a rather obvious choice that I’m surprised D&D and Cogman didn’t realize when they wrote that part. Good idea but nothing special, hopefully this assistant is more of a collaborator and not writing episodes on his own. Otherwise I fear the show will get too telegraphed.

Duval:
I didn’t like it. I wouldn’t say it’s bad writing or anything like that, but I always liked the idea of Jon not knowing who killed Ygritte. This and the other Night Watchs show addition (the Crasters Keep storyline) just feel a bit to cliche and predictable to me.
And let’s be fair, you don’t have to be a genius to come up with this.

Some things that work well within the scope of a book experience come off as cheap and unsatisfactory on film and that would be one of them. Almost no one would like it, and most people would feel gipped.

Oh, this bodes well.
That one stupid kid that got hamfisted into the narrative and killed Ygritte with a cringe-worthy badass nod was created by this guy. And now this guy gets to write whoooole episodes like it. Yup. Not bad at all.

Get ready for Tyene Sand killing people with her double daggers next season. But not before she says her catchphrase, “Your license has just been revoked.”

oh wow in that case heres an idea shitmouth is azor ahai, daenerys dies from gonorrhea and the great other is peter pan yayy now make me a writer on the show or better yet make me ceo of your tv network because my ideas are da shit

Renly’s Peach:
Oh, this bodes well.
That one stupid kid that got hamfisted into the narrative and killed Ygritte with a cringe-worthy badass nod was created by this guy. And now this guy gets to write whoooole episodes like it. Yup. Not bad at all.

Get ready for Tyene Sand killing people with her double daggers next season. But not before she says her catchphrase, “Your license has just been revoked.”

If you shoot an enemy with an arrow who was about to kill your partner. You wouldn’t nod? I personally I would wink but that’s just me

BobbyAtomic:
If only they had some sort of book they could look through to give them ideas.

Yeah we could have hours of vivid descriptions of food and several dozen episodes of ( in book readers words) boring crap where nothing ever happens so they completely miss the chapters on rereads , sounds like a better option? yeah , thought not.

As I watched little Olly’s character this season I wondered… 1) Will he befriend/have scenes with Shireen Baratheon? Kids tend lot gravitate to others their own age when overwhelmed by the presence of adults
2)Will he take the place of Devan Seaworth and be drawn to Mel.

Wow. The amount of blatant disrespect and outright abuse of the showrunners and writers shown in the comments here never fails to amaze me. It’s astounding that people who hate the show and its writers so much continue to watch it. They much have a masochistic streak.

And yes, anyone who read the books realized that the kid was going to kill Ygritte right from the first scene he appeared in. But, isn’t it just possible that once they had the idea, they wrote the scene that way on purpose?

+1 (well, except for the gutting someone part). Many times I’ve seen people insult GRRM’s prose without giving any concrete reasons they don’t like it or offering examples of what they do like. GRRM is a great writer and has been for a long time. Dying of the Light is a perfectly written novel, one of my favorites of all time. Meathouse Man might be the best short story I’ve ever read, disturbing as it is. And if the ASoIaF books weren’t great, this series wouldn’t exist.

as soon as you see the scene where the kid gets killed and he looks at ygritte you know hes the kid thats gonna kill her later, so blatantly obvious. and for that idea he gets to write an episode.. so sad..

Renly’s Peach:
Oh, this bodes well.
That one stupid kid that got hamfisted into the narrative and killed Ygritte with a cringe-worthy badass nod was created by this guy. And now this guy gets to write whoooole episodes like it. Yup. Not bad at all.

Get ready for Tyene Sand killing people with her double daggers next season. But not before she says her catchphrase, “Your license has just been revoked.”

No. Probably more like, “I double dare you!” just before she fights them and dispatches them with them. Yeesh

It surprises me that so many commenters here seem to think that the whole script (or maybe even the filmed episode) of the family being murdered existed beforehand. Of course the script of that episode was edited after the killing-ygritte idea was added.

It’s not like Dave Hill first saw the episode and then went to D&D with his idea.

I’m not saying a kid can’t use a bow, but it was a set up that became too obvious and didn’t lead to anything other than a cliché

if it had been Sam who took her life, they could have worked that in with the story, and given his and Jon’s relationship an extra layer of conflict. Hell, one of the reasons he could send him away was because he didn’t like to remind himself of her, in Sam’s presence.

If they still use Olly in season 5, I wonder if they will bring Ygritte up in a convo with Snow

Until I read this I did not even think it was the same kid… Would have been better for John Snow to shoot the kid with an arrow, save Ygrette and the pair of them run away to have mad romps in the woods.

Now the kid has no family and can’t even bust a nut at Castle Black and John Snow will be blue balled until his days end…

Actually, most of D&D’s ideas are clichés, more or less. Sometimes it doesn’t matter, they do the job well, but most of their new ideas are quite obvious stuff e. g. “Hey guys, Missandei and Grey Worm have to do something interesting this season, otherwise the two actors would be mere statists.” “OK, let’s make a shy emotional bond between the two.” or “We need some additional sex scenes for the first few episodes, to catch the viewers’ interest.” “Oberyn is murmured in the books to be a promiscuous bisexual, let’s make some gruppen staff part of his introduction.” etc.

I don’t mind that the show changes things to the books. At least if this is the case, even after the show has ended (long before the books are ever complete) the books will contain an element of mystique (eg. what happened to LS? Who was Coldhands? etc.).

However the biggest deviation from the books to disappoint me is the lack of random events (such as us never knowing who killed Ygritte) that is shunned – and is always shunned – in Hollywood produced shows/films. By rule everything has to tie together. Nothing in a script is for nothing. In a novel this does not have to be the case and it is made more interesting as a result.

I would love to see the show have a bit of boat-rocking balls and throw a few red herrings in there, a few ‘we’ll-never-knows’. It doesn’t always have to link up.

In a similar vein, I didn’ think Shae had to be made so sympathetic before the end of the Season. Why couldn’t she have remained (an albeit fleshed out version of) the simple whore from the books?

My idea Jon gets elected LC – Ollie Headnod becomes Jons steward – Jon trains Ollie Headnod to be the next LC Then have Jon REALLY die from Bowen Marsh(Forget about Jon’s character completely) — Check this out for the super shocking episode 9 twist — Ollie Headnod becomes new LC and takes the offer of Winterfell from Stannis and has a shadowbaby with Melisandre that kills Stannis. Then Ollie Headnod becomes the new Night King

I agree. Personally, I didn’t connect to Rob’s wife Talisa in the show didn’t add anything for me. Thinking back, I didn’t really think, “oh, poor girl who only wanted to help people”. It was, “oh god, she got stabbed in the belly with baby inside!!!”
And the changes to Shae added nothing, in the end, basically what happens in the book.
Some changes are awesome, but based on these two things and a few others, I’m really worried about the Tristain/Myrcella romance next season as well as this new Grey Worm/ Missandei thing

If you mean to tell me, they wrote the scene where the kids parents are killed by the Wildlings, before coming up with the idea of having him be the one to kill Ygritte, then I don’t know what to say.

If you knew the arc for Ygritte and what was going to happen to her, I think 9 out of 10 people would have guessed immediately the kid would be the one to do her in. But if both Benioff and Weiss were that 10th person in a 10 person group, that would not have thought of that, and needed someone else to tell them that…then this lowers my expectations greatly, when and if they have to start making things up on their own because they catch the books.

As long as he doesn’t write another debate over the meaning of “nothing” or 17 more over dramatic crappy lines about “I came from nothing”, “I have nothing”, “I have never been nothing”. …ect. I think he will do just fine.

Aside from the fact that the book is separate from the show (as has been said by many people this summer, including the author and the producer) and so it stands to reason that they would be differences just because the two media are so different, why would you fire a creative thinking like that? I agree it wasn’t necessary. But it worked, very well as a matter of fact. I look forward to seeing what he comes up with. Fire him, indeed….

As soon as a I saw this article I knew it would be some D&D bashing. I’m surprised, maybe it hasn’t been up that long, because I thought it would be much more vicious. I’m really hoping this is more a fun story to tell than the 100% truth. I hope he has proven himself in a score of situations and moments before just saying, “Yeah write an episode”.

I wish they would just stick to the story, there are books, that’s all they need. They are so fast to take out characters, combine 3 characters into one, and then waste time making up new stuff instead of just keeping things we want to see. Very annoying.

“The Simpsons” episode “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” comes to mind. Some guy has some idea – let’s make him in charge of important stuff! I had a generally positive attitude towards D&D, as they were making a good TV-show, but now I’m scared. Or maybe I’m just jealous. Maybe if I’d send them my photo with a note that says “Don’t you think I look like Ramsay Bolton?” I’d be a part of a starring cast by now.

Martin’s prose are serviceable at best. He was a great idea guy, 14 years ago, when he kept good pacing and clarity in mind and took advice from his editors. He’s always been an info dropper and a “teller”, and some of his frivolous details started really creeping up in Storm of Swords, but the plot and characters and pacing were just so dang compelling, it’s strengths more than make up for his dated 90s prose. But alas, he’s long since let the story get away from him, and now the telling and info dropping is more detached from proper pacing than ever. Good world building should be seamlessly worked into the prose, not detached from it, as Martin often does whenever a new character walks by and must be described, sigil and all, in a voice that often comes off as a disembodied narrator rather than through the lense of the point of view character, and in an unnecessary level of detail that would get any other author tossed into the rejection bin.

Well that’s just, like, your opinion, bro.
I personally like descriptions of things I’m reading about. It does NOT take me out of the narrative nor does it distract. I wish more authors were like that. There are several prominent ones off the top of my head that could use a lesson or two on describing what the hell is happening.

It’s something that’s been there since book one and is vastly exaggerated by people eager to pounce on the smallest flaw. That you don’t like it is one thing, but to say it’s “dated” or heavy-handed is entirely incorrect.

ikriti:
i cant wait for the day where even unsullied will watch this show and think “this is poor writing/directing”. its coming, david and dan can only screw up so much until unsullied fan base gets bored of it like true blood. this wont end up being a failure because david and dan tried to adapt the unadaptable and while they didnt do the job it was a good effort, david and dan CHOSE to make it unadaptable. this show will not go down as one of the greats sadly because of how they butchered it. enjoy your money d & d i guess…

It’s too bad you’re just a purist and hate any departure or things change on the show because you don’t understand the difference between adapting a book to film. You can stop watching now, nobody is forcing you and you won’t be missed. Maybe you and Linda can come up with your own version instead of crying knocking someone else’s work because it’s not how you read it. Waaaaaaah… D&D stole my milk bottle.

George Martin and the showrunners have repeatedly stated that the books and the show are separate entities. Are the whiners here dim witted and unable to comprehend this or just plain pathetic thinking they are owed something?

King Stannis: It’s too bad you’re just a purist and hate any departure or things change on the show because you don’t understand the difference between adapting a book to film. You can stop watching now, nobody is forcing you and you won’t be missed. Maybe you and Linda can come up with your own version instead of crying knocking someone else’s work because it’s not how you read it. Waaaaaaah… D&D stole my milk bottle.

To the quote that I hate any departure from the books to the movie you could not be more misguided. Over the past 3 + years i have accepted and respected alot of the changes they have made to the show, while they could have optimized pacing in a few parts better and the general hbo “add titties here” scenes all and all it felt like they did an amazing job.
I felt/feel like if they could get the first 3 seasons that right then the 4th season which has without question the most exciting/entertaining/thought provoking/ compelling scenes of the story so far, then season 4 would be a no brainer. The purple wedding and the mountain vs the viper were done well, even the hound/arya inn fight which is different in the books i thought they did a great job. But unfortunatly that’s it.

It also feels like some of the big name actors have this sense of entitlement that they can be arrogant and lazy with their scenes and it shows. Emilia Clarke is the most obvious. You saw her season 1 even dying her eyebrows blonde just to nail the part and now she doesnt do it. Im sure youre asking why does it matter, its one of many signs. The acting doesnt usually draw me in anymore with an increasing group of actors. Theyre getting other movie roles etc. But in the end it starts at the top with d & d.

They might be burned out. I dont think they care as much anymore about it. They’ve run out of juice and right at the point where they need alot of creative juices going because season 4 should have been the easiest by far. If they cant get season 4 right god help them the rest of the way out. And letting some dude write a show solely from suggesting that stupid transparant group of scenes is more than concerning. They have enough popularity to finish the series in my opinion but by the time it finishes it will be a shell of what it could have been. And all they had to do is go with the story more.

So whose idea was it that Asha (Yara) should storm the Dreadfort with a bunch of armored ironborn, only to lose to a shirtless Ramsay and dogs? Because that scene, along with the obvious plotline of that child, were in my opinion the worst things of Season 4 by far… The first one was absurd and the second one too obvious and formulaic. Actually I think that the only thing worse than them in the entire series was that Robert Baratheon hunting scene in season one, where the King was hunting on foot, holding a spear awkwardly, while having only three people accompanying him. I know it could be a matter of budget, but even a small close up would help, that scene looked like the creation of an amateur filmmaker.

Also, even if I accept for a second that the idea of the child killing Ygritte was great, I’ll say this: Having a great idea is very different to writing an episode of a tv series…